PENNSVILLE TWP. — The Pennsville School District will see approximately four job positions cut with the adoption of the $28.7 million budget for the 2014-2015 school year.

While there were no cuts to existing programs — academic, extra-curricular, or co-curricular — the budget called for a cut in four positions, according to Pennsville Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mike Brodzik.

The four positions include a combination of instructional and teaching aides.

"It's awful, but we truly didn't need those positions. We had more people than we needed and it's always a hard conversation and affects people's lives, but that is money that we used in other ways," the superintendent said Monday night. He did not elaborate on which positions were cut.

The school district restructured the use of staff and brought in other sources of revenue, such as the School Choice program.

As a choice school district, 25 out-of-district students were enrolled and provided the district with more than $230,000 for the 2014-2015 year.

The district also received an additional $34,700 of state aid, on top of the $8.5 million that has been received over the past several years — a total of $8,623,570.

The school board adopted the $28,795,920 spending plan with a 7 to 2 vote that calls for a 3.4-cent school tax increase.

The $28.7 million budget is an increase of $563,209 from last year's spending plan of approximately $28.2 million.

Additionally, the tax levy for 2014-2015 is a total of $18.9 million, compared to the 2013-2014 tax levy of $18.5 million.

With the adopted budget, property owners will pay an additional $24 a year in school taxes for the average home assessed at $157,000. The school tax rate will increase to $1.73 per $100 of assessed property value, over last year's rate of $1.69.

However, the tax increase could have been larger had the district still been paying down its debt on a bond referendum from 1993. The final payment on that was made last year.

"Our priorities are always focused on our students and facilities. The budget contains resources to give Pennsville students the tools they need," the superintendent stated.

"This budget also utilizes the funds that we have available to maintain and upgrade our facilities in the most efficient way possible," Brodzik continued.

Following a brief budget presentation, the board adopted the spending plan, despite a lengthy conversation prompted by two board members' "no" votes.

Board members Jeffrey Elwell and Greg Acton turned down the budget and, when asked about their vote, discussed a disagreement on how much funding was appropriated for district facilities.

For 2014-2015, the budget appropriated approximately $569,141 for general facility needs and another appropriation of about $213,700 for required maintenance, according to Business Administrator John Recchinti.

Board President Kathy Bodine, member Nancy Phillips, and the superintendent questioned why the issue on facilities was raised the night of the vote and not earlier in the year through the budget process, which started in October.

After a lengthy discussion and vote, Elwell and Acton voted "no" and the remainder of the board voted "yes."